Patent 7543249 was granted and assigned to Infineon Technologies on June, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An integrated circuit comprises an embedded switchable power ring for supplying power to circuit modules (15.1, . . . , 15.5) arranged within the switchable power ring (13). The switchable power ring (13) comprises a switch control unit (20) for generating an on/off control signal and multiple switch power units (30) controlled by the on/off control signal for providing a switched current as power supply for the circuit modules (15.1, . . . , 15.5). The multiple switch power units (30) being arranged in a ring shape on the integrated circuit (2′).